All year, CQPolitics.com’s ratings of House and Senate races have been a virtual one-way street: Almost all rating changes show improved chances for the Democrats to capture seats — a reflection of the year’s toxic political environment for the Republicans who control both chambers of Congress and the White House.And the traffic on that one-way street is getting heavier by the day. Last week, CQPolitics.com changed it ratings on one Senate race and 10 House races. In every case, the ratings indicate strengthening Democratic prospects.

An extreme example is the seat held by Thomas Reynolds, who finds himself caught up the Mark Foley scandal. Reynolds, who chairs the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, was not expecting a serious challenge. Now, according to the Buffalo News, he trails his challenger, Jack Davis, by 15 percentage points:

It showed that 325 respondents were following the Foley story, with 57 percent disapproving the way Reynolds handled the situation after he found out last spring Foley had sent an e-mail that made a former page uncomfortable. And then 10 days ago, it was revealed that Foley had sent sexually explicit instant messages to other former pages.Only 25 percent of the poll respondents said they approved of how Reynolds handled the situation.